Where Dreams Take Flight
Looking back on the history of flight, one thing is clear: the sky was never just the limit. Once mankind got off the ground, the race was on to go beyond.
From the history’s first powered flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kill Devil Hills, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903, to Charles Lindbergh’s solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis from May 20 to 21, 1927, aviation innovators have continued to explore the limits of Earth’s endless boundaries. Five years after Lindbergh’s epic accomplishment, in 1932, Amelia Earhart, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat.
The exploration of the heavens was just beginning. A mere 20 years after Lindbergh’s crossing, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in level flight for the first time in a Bell X-1 in the skies over Southern California on October 14, 1947. Just 22 years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969, with Armstrong issuing one of mankind’s most famous quotes: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The spirit and quest for adventure remains alive today in modern “star explorers,” as America sets its sights on putting astronauts back on the Moon in the next few years and eventually on Mars in the not too distant future.
Today, through ABOVE AND BEYOND, an immersive, educational and enjoyable special exhibition and experiential journey at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park, the goals and visions of these explorers continue to propel aerospace innovators onward and upward, inspiring children and young adults to imagine future careers in aerospace, and helping to support educators in building Science, Technology, Engineering and Math awareness and skills among students and critical thinkers.
ABOVE AND BEYOND ignites a passion for mankind’s greatest adventure: our journey of flight into the heavens and celebrates the power of innovation to make dreams take flight and features immersive simulations, interactive design challenges, iconic historical touchstones, visionary concepts and inspiring stories from game-changing innovators, past and present.
ABOVE AND BEYOND encourages visitors of all ages and backgrounds to imagine what it takes to make the ‘impossible’ possible. Just like the Wright Brothers, Lindbergh, Earhart, Yeager, Aldrin, Armstrong and the future explorers currently on their way to paving new paths in the skies above.
ABOVE AND BEYOND: Where Dreams Take Flight, only at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
www.sandiegoairandspace.org
